Can I reply email using AI is one of the most popular search terms on the internet right now, proving how ready people are to automate their most time-consuming and repetitive tasks.

AI email generation has become popular among sales teams for this reason. Outbound email campaigns are vital growth engines for companies in the early startup stages – they’re effective for lead gen, wide-reaching and cost-effective, driving a high ROI with minimum investment.

Most inboxes are flooded with sales emails, however, meaning it takes time and effort to create emails that will stand out. Before the rise of AI tools, you would need to hire a writer to craft your sales copy as well as a sales team to send, monitor and follow up on email campaigns, all of which is expensive and time-consuming.

Current AI tools can automate this entire process, meaning small teams and entrepreneurs can perform more of an oversight role than having to execute the entire process or hire in help.

This is good news for startups and early-stage companies of course, but unfortunately, it means consumers are now saturated with AI-generated emails, the quality of which leaves much to be desired.

Consumers are smart. They can tell when a company is genuinely trying to connect with them and provide value, and when they’re trying to cut corners. Not only can AI emails sound robotic and insincere, but they can also cause people alarm, due to the prevalence of sophisticated scams.

High levels of templated emails from AI tools have caused distrust, leading recipients to dismiss or delete emails they think have been AI-generated. Not only will a bad email campaign lose you valuable leads, but it could also damage your reputation with potential clients.

There’s a lot at stake here, but don’t worry – in this article, we’ll show you how to leverage AI in a creative, human-driven way to create authentic emails to engage and convert your readers.

So if you’re wondering how to not sound like an AI in your sales emails, we’ve got you covered.

When AI Emails Sound Artificial

How to Not Sound Like an AI in Your Sales Emails

Because AI has been around for a while now, people are starting to cotton on to the tell-tale signs that copy has been artificially generated. This has led to what’s known as ‘AI fatigue.’

Reports show that a lack of personalization leads to lower conversion rates in email campaigns, along with generic subject lines and overly commercial messaging, all of which are the culprits of bad AI sales copy.

Here are some of the common signs that an email has been written by AI, which should show you what to avoid when sending out those all-important emails.

Overly Formal Language

Generative AI has a bad habit of using overly formal, sometimes archaic language. Greetings and signoffs can also be a bit generic. Take this sales email from ChatGPT. We asked the tool to write a sales email for an email automation tool.

‘I hope this message finds you well’ is a bit formal for most modern sales emails, and it doesn’t set you apart from other companies or offer a personal tone of voice. This is a tell-tale sign of an AI-written email.

Unnatural Phrasing

Although AI writing tools have been trained on human-generated content, they often lack the ability to contextualize information and so sometimes phrase things in unnatural or robotic ways. In other words, emails written by AI don’t sound friendly or inviting, and they don’t have much character.

For example, most AI startups wouldn’t use the term ‘unified customer view’ as it sounds a bit vague and nonspecific.

Lack of Specificity

Although you can deliver more detailed prompts to Generative AI than we have here, you will still find that your AI-written sales email might lack specific details about your USP or particular offering. This is why human oversight and editing are so important – your customers need to know why they should use your product or service specifically.

No Tone Changes

AI emails are often one-note because they’re written by a computer rather than a human. Most emails written by AI tools will follow this formula: value proposition > benefits > call-to-action.

Although there is nothing wrong with this formula in itself, when an email follows this too closely without any variation in tone or style, it can be very robotic and unengaging. If you’re wondering how to not sound like an AI, it would be better to switch it up and not rely on this structure too closely.

Generic CTAs

Calls-to-action are generally considered the most important part of a sales email. This is where you recap the specific benefits of what you’re selling and instruct the reader on what to do next.

As you can see from the example below, AI-generated CTAs can lack specificity, using language like ‘see how we can support your goals’ or ‘enhance your marketing outcomes’ which are a bit meaningless.

The CTA should vary depending on the intent of your email campaign and its place in the funnel – for example, it might be a top-of-the-funnel informational email telling prospects where they can explore your products and features, or it could be a much more commercial email with a link to make a purchase – and it should be clear, direct and specific.

Replicative vs Generative AI in AI Sales Emails

In order to use AI effectively in your email campaigns, it’s important to understand its nuances. There are generally two types of AI used in email campaigns.

Generative AI

This type of AI generates content based on prompts and learned information. Generative AI attempts to create original, natural-sounding content but often fails to account for contexts and established communication styles, so may not resonate with readers.

Replicative AI

Replicative AI goes a step beyond Generative AI and actually learns from successful outreach patterns. This means it can be ‘trained’ and adjusted for specific industries, taking preferences, context and style into account so it sounds more authentic. Replicative AI also learns as you use it, so it will become all the more accurate and relevant over time.

How to Not Sound Like an AI In Your Sales Emails

The best way to leverage AI in your email campaigns without sounding like a robot is to use a Replicative AI tool like Topo, rather than a Generative AI.

The Replicative approach will result in a more personal communication style by mimicking your natural language patterns and learning from successful scenarios – for instance, when a lead follows up with you after you’ve used a certain writing style or CTA, your Replicative AI will try to ‘replicate’ that success in future outreach efforts.

Of course, whichever AI you use, human oversight from an SDR or similar role is still important. The sweet spot is learning to work with your AI model and having it work for you, not instead of you. It’s there to complement your efforts and make your processes more efficient and productive, not to completely take over.

Tips for Refining AI-Generated Emails

• Include a human opening with a warm welcome

• State the email’s purpose early on in the message

• Make sure your email is specific to your industry and product

• Include lead-specific, personalized context

• Limit formal or overly verbose language by fine-tuning your AI

• Add a human sign-off, and include authentic expressions and phrases throughout

• Include a specific, actionable CTA like a booking link for a meeting or call

• A/B test your emails with human guidance

Topo: Leverage AI and Still Sound Authentic

Can I reply email using AI? The answer is yes, but it’s best to use a Replicative AI model and maintain human oversight to sound authentic.

Topo’s ‘Human-in-the-Loop’ approach sets it apart from other tools. We don’t claim to be able to automate everything for you, because we know that won’t result in the most successful outcome for your business.

Instead, we keep human oversight involved in strategy and execution, helping you maintain a genuine tone that’s relevant to your audience.

Unlike other tools, we train our AIs on industry-specific data, meaning they are better equipped to use relevant jargon and reference industry trends and concerns. Unlike a sales representative who may leave after a year or two of learning your business, an AI SDR will grow with you, enriching your present and future campaigns with real-time knowledge.

Topo continuously learns with you, making it easy to scale as you grow your operation. It can respond directly to feedback from client data and inputs, becoming more refined over time. Using our tool is at the intersection between using an outbound agency and hiring a new SDR, and it’s perfect for Seed or Series A companies because it requires minimal investment.

Want to know how to not sound like AI in your emails? Get ready to blend AI with human strategy to create authentic, high-converting sales emails using the power of replicative AI.

Explore Topo today, and benefit from a solution that’s 10 times cheaper than hiring an SDR that drives great results for your leadgen strategy.